Disclaimer: I own nothing from Danny Phantom

Note: It's been a while since I worked on this story so please bear with me if I forgot a few details. I tried working up updating Feral but couldn't get as into it as I'd hoped since the premise is slightly similar to a story I was working on on my other profile. Anyways, wish me luck getting back into gear with this story and I hope you enjoy the chapter!


Chapter 39: Somnolent

(Chapter Inspired by "A Million Dreams" from The Greatest Showman)


Danielle's POV

"Sorry Vlad, I didn't mean to get all emotional. I just felt so touched by all of this," I sniffled after finally pulling my arms away from Vlad and brushing a few stray tears out of my eyes. "I can't remember the last time I've had such a wonderful birthday. Thank you so much."

"Think nothing of it, I'm delighted to see how happily my gifts were received," Vlad smiled, reaching up and cupping my cheek gently, running his thumb across it with exaggerated slowness. "As you know it was so difficult to restrain myself since I wanted to give you so much more than this, I still do..."

I could see the longing shimmering in Vlad's eyes as his hand lingered on my cheek and a ripple of warmth spread from his touch. And honestly, he wasn't the only one struggling to keep their head on straight as our desire to be closer right now grew. Part of me wanted to stay with him tonight, damning the consequences, but I knew I'd kick myself for it later if I let Vlad tempt me into shirking my responsibilities.

"I know, and I wish I could stay but duty calls!" I beamed.

"At least I'm fully rested for once so maybe if there's time after I've finished my rounds..." resting my hand over his and taking a step closer so our bodies were almost flush against one another, I added sensually, "...I could come back here and-"

I abruptly cut myself off when something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. The velvet curtains should have been perfectly still but I saw them sway a little and there seemed to be more lights there than before. I probably only imagined it but my instincts were telling me something wasn't right. Vlad promised to keep his ghost employees away tonight, especially since my parents were here for dinner earlier. But the strangest part was when my ghost sense went off a second later, Vlad didn't react at all.

"Vlad? Did you feel that just now? There's another ghost in here with us. Are you... expecting anyone? I thought you told your ghostly underlings to keep their distance as usual tonight," I asked him in a calm reasonable tone since there was no point in overreacting just yet.

Still, it was a bit hard to keep my voice from cracking slightly while trying to push down the growing feeling of dread forming in the pit of my stomach from worrying that our wonderful evening was about to be ruined because I jinxed it by saying it was probably the best birthday of my life. But when I looked back up at him and noticed that his eyes were half-closed and oddly unfocused and glassy, like he was in a daze, serious warning bells started going off in my head as I shook him, trying to snap Vlad out of it.

"Hey! Snap out of it Vlad!" I yelled shaking him again, seriously considering slapping him if nothing else worked.

"Do not be alarmed, your lover is unharmed. I just needed him out of the way. You will be joining him shortly," an eloquent yet sleepy voice replied.

And before I could transform and whirl around to face him, a clawed hand materialized in front of me and a shimmering mist clouded my vision, making me super drowsy just like Vlad. After that, it slowly began to feel like I was stepping into a nice relaxing pool of warm water and was powerless to resist it as Vlad and I both sagged to the floor in each other's arms. I could hear him breathing softly so Vlad must have already fallen prey to whatever that ghost did to him. But why couldn't we sense them before?! What kind of ghost was I dealing with who could even catch Vlad by surprise...?

Damn it...I knew it, I knew tonight was going too well and it was only a matter of time before something else went wrong like it always does, I thought bitterly as my body betrayed me and refused to move an inch from that spot.

With what little strength I had left, I cracked one eye open again to see who our assailant was. All I could make out was a pair of glowing sleepy-eyes, like the kind you'd see on a drama mask, and a pair of horns that curled downwards. But the rest of him blended into the rest of the room, like he was a shadow made of the night sky...

After that I tried to open my mouth to demand to know who they were and what they wanted from us, but the last thing I remember before slipping under was, "I believe it is high time that I see for myself what power your dreams truly hold...and if it will be enough to prevent what is to come."


Vlad's POV

The following morning I awoke to the familiar and yet unexpected coolness of Danielle's skin brushing against mine as she curled up closer to me in bed and sighed contently in her sleep. How strange...did Danielle decide to skip her usual patrol around the city to make love with me after all? The last thing I remembered from the previous night was Danielle eluding to the idea of coming back after she finished capturing any stray ghosts for the night so we could enjoy our time together in a far more intimate way that just dancing.

Then my mind flashed back to our last heated kiss when we both gave into our desires and haphazardly removed everything we were wearing and teleported to my bedroom. It must have been intense indeed if even I was struggling to remember the details. Still, I suppose it doesn't matter, at least not to me since I'm sure Vallen could pick up the slack for Danielle just as I intended when I made him a ghost hunter in secret.

When I glanced over at the clock however I saw that while it was still early I knew I would need to wake her so Danielle could get ready for school before her parents realized she wasn't there. Not that they normally cared enough to check. Gazing at her sleeping face though I was sorely tempted to keep her here just this once after a bit of overshadowing to pretend she had stayed home sick from school today. It seemed like such a shame to make her go to school sore after a long night of-

Hmm? I blinked when she shifted a little and a stray strand of hair fell across her face, When did her hair start growing so long again?

Pondering this I barely noticed when Danielle opened her eyes and smiled at me, idly wrapping her arms fully around my torso, "Good morning Vlad. Did you sleep well? I know I did..."

"Perhaps a little too well," I muttered to myself, sighing and propping myself up a bit more. "For some reason I'm having a difficult time remembering what happened last night."

Laughing softly Danielle propped herself up too and covered herself with the bed-sheets as she replied, "I'm not, you did drink a little more than usual during dinner last night. I think you said something about them only serving watered-down grape juice at the restaurant and practically threatened to shut the place down unless they served you a proper wine."

"Restaurant? Don't be silly Danielle, we ate here last night with your parents. That much I do remember. Your friends parents were there as well," I corrected, wondering if it was Danielle who was confused more than I was and didn't remember most of the dinner party.

"Aren't you a little young to be going senile?" Danielle teased, leaning forward to gently brush her lips against mine. "We haven't had dinner with my parents since my seventeenth birthday. If we could pry them away from their work long enough it would be nice to invite them again for old times sake. Sometimes I still can't believe you didn't have to overshadow them to get my parents to accept us..."

"Danielle, what are you-" reaching up with her hand to trace my lips with her fingers as she leaned in for another kiss my eyes widened as a glint of silver caught my eye and I realized Danielle was wearing a ring. More specifically...a wedding ring. Just what in the world was going on? Since when were we-!

"Danielle!" I exclaimed suddenly, startling her when I grabbed her shoulders and asked while barely containing the strangely hopeful tone that crept into my voice, "Are we married?!"

"Vlad, you're starting to scare me a little," Danielle admitted, calmly resting her hands on my shoulders as well before stating much more firmly, "Of course we're married! We've been married for ten years now! Alright Mr-Multi-Billionaire, that does it! From this moment on you're not allowed to drink at business meetings ever again! I don't care how well you can hold your drink thanks to our ghost powers I can't have you freaking me out with serious lapses of memory like this!"

Stunned I could only stare at her, dumbstruck. This didn't make any sense to me, how could we be married? Was this a dream? Or was I merely dreaming of some random moment in the past about a wonderful memory shared with my beloved? I was no longer sure, but the way Danielle was looking at me reminded me that I needed to sort this out so she would stop looking so concerned.

"Forgive me my dear, you're probably right. I didn't mean to worry you," I apologized meekly and we both sighed in relief at the same time.

"It's ok, and to be fair you haven't hit the bottle that hard in years so whoever those businessmen were they must've really pissed you off if you wanted to drink so much just to forget that they ever approached you with that stupid offer. I was hoping that once you got home having sex would cheer you up but I guess it was a mistake doing it while you were still pretty drunk. I'll try to remember that," Danielle nodded to herself, giving me one last serious look before climbing out of bed with the bedsheets trailing behind her like a wedding gown.

"Why don't you take a shower and I'll ask the chef to make breakfast for us? Maybe that will help you sober up." Smiling and not caring that she was still more or less naked underneath the thin fabric of the sheets, Danielle phased through the floor in what I assumed was the direction of the kitchen. I honestly couldn't tell anymore what was real and what was simply my imagination...


Observing Danielle much closer after taking a shower as suggested I noticed now how much older she looked, just like the gorgeous -and fully mature- woman I had always envisioned her becoming one day who would be the pinnacle of beauty and grace that FAR surpassed Maddie. She was still wearing her hair somewhat short compared to when we first met when it was long and ran down the length of her back, but now Danielle had settled for shoulder length hair she wore loosely and was cut to frame her face perfectly.

It wasn't long before I soon noticed a wedding ring of my own resting on the night stand once I had finished my shower and the weight of it felt alien to me but also right somehow. Danielle was here, where she was meant to be which was by my side and from what I could tell we were happy. Well, at least if you don't count the troubled expression she adopted earlier when I was having trouble remembering that we were married.

This was all I ever wanted. A loving wife, a family, and a life where I no longer felt like scheming or even the need to once I had everything Jack and Maddie stole from me. But, for everything they stole, they had also given me the one thing I needed most. They had given me their daughter's heart. And judging from what she said they gave us their blessing surprisingly easy. I could only assume it was the same for her brother...

I suppose it made sense given how Danielle was more than old enough to marry me despite our age difference, and when I looked into the bathroom mirror earlier it seemed as though I had hardly aged a day. If anything I looked younger since Danielle's love gave me so much joy and made me feel so young again. There is also my theory that our ghost powers had slowed the aging process, though it was anyone's guess if that would remain the case or if we were in fact immortal beings who were actually happy with the idea of being trapped in our twilight years.

Even so, part of me had this unshakable feeling that this was too good to be true. Something wasn't adding up here and until I found out what it was I would have to play along. And whether this Danielle was real or some twisted illusion, I didn't want to make her worry again. As always, her happiness was all that mattered in the end. Though, I would be lying if I didn't say I was enjoying the idea of Danielle finally being mine and mine alone now, and forever til death do us part...

But fortunately for us, that day may never come.